not sure if this is the right place to post this. But I live in Ohio and am wanting to do a self guided hunt in Missouri or somewhere that has good waterfowl areas. I got a 1648 boat and large field setup. Wondering what the odds are of pulling my gear there and getting onto some birds in public access area or finding someone that would allow me to hunt their fields. Is this a crazy idea or is it doable. Was going to try Canada but it is to far away and expense, so I figured I would try somewhere else. I am up for any help, tips, or suggestions.

Hey hollywood, your kinda new so I'll give you a heads up before you get blacklisted. You can't ask for spots or areas to scout. These guys will consider you a troll. If I were you, post in craigslist "Looking for waterfowl land" or something along those lines. You might have to pay a minor fee and then again some people out there have big dilemmas with the nuisant local geese populations. Anyways don't scout on here cuz these guys will east you alive. I've seen it time after time. PS- Google earth is awesome for scouting potential spots...

Give a man a duck... Feed him for a day... Teach him to fowl hunt... Feed him for a lifetime...Teach him in your spot... Learn to hunt a different spot....

hollywood wrote:not sure if this is the right place to post this. But I live in Ohio and am wanting to do a self guided hunt in Missouri or somewhere that has good waterfowl areas. I got a 1648 boat and large field setup. Wondering what the odds are of pulling my gear there and getting onto some birds in public access area or finding someone that would allow me to hunt their fields. Is this a crazy idea or is it doable. Was going to try Canada but it is to far away and expense, so I figured I would try somewhere else. I am up for any help, tips, or suggestions.

I don't know what Wana is talking about, you seem to have chosen your words carefully, as to not directly ask for sweet spots.

If I were you, I would go to ND or SD instead, my main hunting group is heading out there for the fist time this year. So, I can't tell you specifics, but what I have been told is, reserve a couple days to scout and a few days to hunt. Drive around with binoculars scouting. The trespassing laws are different out there, if it is not posted you can hunt it (I would talk to the land owner anyways).

My understanding is, that is all there is to it.

You shouldn't need the boat, but it never hurts to have.

There are only two types of people in the world, those who love duck hunting and those who never have duck hunted.

Being from missouri I can tell you that there is some good public land to hunt. The best public land that is really well managed for ducks with flooded corn and marshes is mostly draw in hunts. Being that at the specific conservation area every morning during the season they have a draw for who gets to hunt. There is even a online quick draw that you can put in for each week. I got a quick draw once last year for grand pass it was my first and only quick draw. I started putting in the for the quick draw each week when they first started it about two years ago. So quick draw chances are low, but you never know. Idk if you have to be a missouri resident or not to do the quick draw. Anyone can show up for the poor line draw as long as you have all your proper licenses. There are a lot of other conservation areas and state owned lakes that you can hunt in that aren't draw in hunts. There are ones that can be really good. When I lived in missouri I had a number of non draw areas I did really well at for ducks as well as snows in the spring. Good duck hunting public areas that aren't a draw in are harder to figure out. They require first finding out about one that could potentially be good for ducks. Next would be to scout it/try hunting it which could be a crap shoot if you have never been to it before and can't get infor from anyone about it. The missouri department of conservation website has every conservation area on there with a description and area map which can tell you a lot along with google earth. Also if you find areas that you think could be good you can call the department of conservation office for that area and can usually get a hold of a agent for that area that could tell you more about it if you have questions. I've done that plenty of times when I wasn't sure about area regulations because some areas have specific regulations just to it. I can tell you I started hunting four seasons ago when I was living in warrensburg mo while going to college. And it wasn't until these past two years and this last year especially when I really had a lot of good public spots figure out that weren't draw in and didn't have tons of people hunting them each day. Honestly I'd agree with the others the dakotas would be a better bet for more public open areas. Yes MO has some great public land but it's hard to find places that are public that don't get to much pressure. Yes it does get a great migration, but you have to think mo has a lot more people than either south dakota or north dakota to hunt that migration and public land. The dakotas get just as good of a migration if not better probably have more public land and fewer people there. If your dead set on MO pm me I'll try and help you out more. Heck depending on when your planning this trip and we talk more I could maybe make a trip out as well.

Red neck engineering- If ya can't fix it with duck tape, bailing wire, zip ties, and JB weld well than it can't be fixed.

If it moves and it aint suppose to duck tape it. If doesn't move and its suppose to put WD-40 on it.